EvenFourLines

"If any person in any place were to teach even four lines...
...Like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in a stream
Like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud
Or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream
So is all conditioned existence to be seen" [from the Diamond Sutra]

Solvay Physics Conference 1927 – Quiz With Answers

The 1927 Solvay Conference in Physics, founded by Belgian Industrialist Ernest Solvay in 1911, was held in Brussels. The topic was Electrons and Photons. Among the attendees were 17 current or future Nobel Laureates. Here is the quiz. Answers below. Identify these participants: Won two Nobels Felix dead? Grandpa of Grease star Uncertain Which two […]

Communion Hosts, Canon Law and Coeliac Disease: A Solution

I’m Catholic, I’m an immunologist, and I have coeliac disease. So I’m giving this a crack. This post has some religion [here defined as a concept or belief that cannot be disproved] and some science. For a rational debate to occur, we must accept the co-existence of those two concepts. Is coeliac disease an allergy? […]

A Guide To Trip-Hop Cuisine

If trip-hop is not one of your regular food adventures, you might give it a go. It’s a style of cooking that arose in the UK in the last decade of the 20th century. The most famous restaurants were around Bristol. But a warning. At it’s worst, trip-hop is electronic goulash laced with Valium. However, […]

Must Be The One Whose Magic Touch Can Change Your Mind

The Walrus and the Carpenter had eaten all the oysters. Alice is confident about which character she prefers. Or is she? “I like the Walrus best,” said Alice, “because you see he was a little sorry for the poor oysters.” “He ate more than the Carpenter, though,” said Tweedledee. “You see he held his handkerchief […]

I’m In Awe Of A Beautiful Floor

I’m in awe Of a beautiful floor   I esteem The Olympic Team   I’d revere A long cold beer   But I grump When I think of Trump

Intensive Care Is For The Birds

Preface: Written in 1972, as an intern, after a particularly difficult week in ICU. I was twenty-four years old, sitting in our tiny apartment, unable to speak to my wife. Background: This ICU was at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, run by the wonderful Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters instilled a discipline of personal care at […]

My Antediluvian Baby, I Love You, Girl

It was a news item that only appealed to two groups of people. The prestigious journal Nature Geoscience reported on July 11 2011 that the sea floor in the North Atlantic seabed “temporarily” lifted above sea level 56 million years ago, before subsiding back into the ocean. Whose imagination was captured by this article? Geoscientists, naturally. And […]